Singapore-based Petra Foods plans to invest in its consumer brands and will target fast-growing South East Asia chocolate markets after selling its ingredients division to Barry Callebaut.

The company today reported its fourth quarter and full-year results.

Full-year 2012 sales stood at $477.7m, up 13.8% on 2011, while group net profit fell 57.2% to $25.9m as the company incurred charges for the planned divestment of its cocoa ingredients division.

In December 2012, Petra agreed to sell the division to Barry Callebaut for $950m subject to regulatory approval.

Petra said it will now concentrate on its branded consumer division, where net profits rose 38.6% for the full-year to $54.5m.

The company launched 34 new branded products during 2012 and said it planned to continue innovating in 2013.

Petra Foods CEO John Chuang said,“With the proposed divestment of the Cocoa Ingredients business, this will be a significant change for Petra Foods. We will now be able to focus exclusively on growing our Branded Consumer business where the combined strengths of our market leading Brands, product innovation and distribution together with the growing regional markets will drive the growth.”

The company is betting on growth in chocolate confectionery in south east Asia with rising affluence of the young population. It is planning invest in new product launches and expand its distribution network to capitalize on growth in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

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